Death of the hedgerow: Britain's verges and wildlife being throttled by weeds

Britain's neglected hedgerows and verges are suffocating under an explosion of brambles and stinging nettles, wildlife experts have warned.

Soaring numbers of aggressive countryside plants are driving out native wild flowers and robbing butterflies and bees of valuable nectar, they say.

The rise in fast-growing 'weeds' is being fuelled by local councils who have axed budgets for ditch clearance and verge mowing in recent years.

The classic English country lane in Somerset. Sights like these are under threat as hedgerows are throttled by brambles and nettles

Aggressive plants are also being helped by the run off of fertiliser from farmland and the fashion for "hands off" management of the countryside.

The rise of the problem plant is highlighted in the latest Countryside Survey report - a stock take of plants across Britain commissioned by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

It showed that between 1990s and 2007 the number of wild plant species providing food for bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects fell sharply in hedgerows, verges and river banks.

In woodlands the number of nectar plants species fell by 19 per cent, while on arable land it fell by 22 per cent.

The researchers believe the decline in wild flowers has contributed to Britain's vanishing insect life.

Over the last few decades the number of bees has halved, while more than three quarters of the UK's 59 butterfly species have declined.

Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman, said: “Pollinating insects are vital to our existence, helping to provide the food on our tables. It is important that we investigate the causes of the decline and take action to address it.

'The UK has some of the best environmental scientists in the world and using their skills we are gathering more information on changes to our land and the effects this has on species and habitats.

'This survey will help us analyse what effects policy decisions have and where and how we need to take action.'

The report, prepared by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, shows that low lying wild flowers are being squeezed out by taller, more competitive plants such as stinging nettles, ivy and bramble.

'Reduced management' of hedgerows and verges, and the run off of chemical fertilisers from fields is probably to blame, the report's authors say.

The survey is the fifth since 1978 was carried out in 2007 and involved a team of 80 scientists surveying more than 800 randomly selected sites across the UK.

Earlier results from the same study found that the stinging nettle, bramble and hawthorn were the fastest spreading plants in the UK between 1998 and 2007 - and that the number of plant species growing in fields, woods, moors and heaths fell by eight per cent over the same period.

Hogweed, ash and cow parsley are also on the rise while two infamous invasive plants - the Himalayan balsam and the Japanese knotweed - were found at an increasing number of sites.

Harebells, marsh valerian, wild strawberry and water forget me knots have all declined.

Britain has also lost six per cent of its hedgerows, robbing birds, mammals and insects of one of their most important habitats.